Our World: Nigeria by Bunmi Emenanjo and Diana Ejaita, Barefoot Books, £7.99
Part of a delightful educational series from a brilliant inclusive publisher, this colourful, joyous board book whisks babies away to spend a day in Nigeria, learning to say hello in three languages and feasting on porridge, akara and plantain.

Monkeypig by Huw Aaron, Puffin, £7.99
What makes a real monkey? This rapturously silly picture book from the Waterstones prize winner follows Molly, a pig who blends in with her simian friends – despite head monkey Norman’s best efforts to detect the impostor.

The Lost Robot by Joe Todd-Stanton, Flying Eye, £12.99
When a little robot wakes on a rubbish dump, it knows it shouldn’t be there; but when it tries to go home, everything has changed. Is there a place for it anywhere in the world? A beautiful, heartwarming picture-book fable of repair, renewal and found family.

The Mud Princess by Beatrice Alemagna, Thames & Hudson, £12.99
Annoyed with her big brother after school, Yuki throws her keys down a maintenance hole – only to discover the twiggy-haired Mud Princess, who lives on edible anger in a strange, blobby underworld with touches of unexpected beauty. This strikingly memorable 4+ picture book vividly evokes children’s intense and complex feelings.

Where Are You, Eddie? by Michael Rosen and Gill Lewis, Walker, £12.99
In this picture book for slightly older readers (5+), Rosen revisits the territory of 2011’s Sad Book, searching for his lost son Eddie in the places they spent time together, and in memories shared by friends and family. Lewis’s loose, lively illustrations transport the reader effortlessly into a meditative state straddling “now” and “then” in this moving, generous story of grief and contemplation.

Frank the Monster by Mats Strandberg, illustrated by Sofia Falkenhem, Gecko, £8.99
Frank is scared of monsters after dark – but when he’s nipped by a dog at his birthday party and strange things start to happen, he discovers he has more in common with the night’s secret creatures than he thought. Spare, dry and elegant, with transporting two-colour illustrations, this thoughtful 7+ book is laced with just the right amount of peril.

The House With Chicken Legs Runs Away by Sophie Anderson, Usborne, £8.99
Marinka has lived all her life in a Yaga house, guiding the dead onwards through The Gate to the Stars. Now her beloved home is behaving oddly – and so is the Gate. When House pulls itself apart, Marinka and her friend Benjamin set out on a desperate journey to heal it. But is that what House really wants? Imaginative, warm and touching, this 9+ sequel to Anderson’s beloved debut deals courageously with ideas of growth and change.

Mixed: Explore and Celebrate Your Mixed Identity by Emma Slade Edmondson, Rocket Fox, £9.99
From the host of the Mixed Up podcast, with contributions from Dean Atta, Jessie Mei Li and others, this deft and thoughtful book should prove invaluable to 9+ children of mixed heritage, providing advice for exploration and acceptance, and tools to challenge intrusive questions such as the dreaded “Where are you really from?”

The Story of Art Without Men by Katy Hessel, illustrated by Ping Zhu, Puffin, £20
This distilled version of Hessel’s 2022 bestseller, with Ping Zhu’s absorbing, enticing illustrations welcoming the reader on to every page, is a superb introduction to art history and image analysis, offering a thrilling perspective shift to focus on unfairly neglected female trailblazers. Perfect for visual art fans of 9+.

A Million Tiny Missiles All at Once by Lucas Maxwell, Chicken House, £8.99
Elias is beset by fears, both in his rebellious brain and his warring parents’ home. His older brother, Bo, is almost estranged, the kids at school pick nonstop fights, and the ruthless Novia Scotia winter holds the town in an iron grip as Bo gets drawn into a dangerous crowd. Can Elias bring his family back together, winning a pizza night by telling jokes at the school talent competition? Wry, hilarious and acutely observed, this 12+ debut boasts a unique and special voice.

Piper at the Gates of Dusk by Patrick Ness, Walker, £16.99
When brothers Ben and Max encounter something terrifying near their farm on New World, the nightmare is only just beginning. Relations with the indigenous Spackle are breaking down, a hovering shape sends dreams filled with the telepathic Noise that once plagued all New World’s men, and Todd and Viola, the boys’ parents, are increasingly hostile to each other. As children begin to disappear, the ill-matched brothers must somehow find common ground in Ness’s explosive, compelling YA return to the world of the Chaos Walking trilogy.

Deathly Fates by Tesia Tsai, Electric Monkey, £9.99
As a priestess of death, Kang Siying is used to corpses. When she agrees to transport a prince’s body home, only to discover that he’s trapped between death and life, and must absorb constant qi or life-force to avoid permanently dying, Siying unwillingly agrees to help restore him fully. But the quest is more dangerous than she anticipates, and will expose deadly secrets. This slow-burning, poignant romantasy debut is laced with fascinating, atmospheric Chinese folklore.

A Song I Wrote for Charlotte by Caitlin Devlin, Harper, £8.99
Having failed to get into the Royal Academy of Music, Connie is determined to excel at her backup degree. When her flatmates drag her into student life, though, especially cheery, sociable Charlotte, the reclusive Connie discovers a different side to herself – and to Charlotte. But will the new Connie survive an agonising loss? Startlingly funny, sad and hopeful, with a splendidly forthright heroine, this coming-of-age YA romance looks tenderly at sorrow and self-discovery.

Sufferin’ satellites! The quintessential British space hero Dan Dare is back, 76 years after he first appeared in iconic comic magazine the Eagle.

With all eyes on Nasa’s Artemis II moon mission, and with the big-screen adaptation of Andy Weir’s science fiction novel Project Hail Mary, starring Ryan Gosling, going stratospheric at the box office, our love affair with space has been reignited.

So the return of Colonel Dan Dare, chief pilot of the Interplanet Space Fleet, who debuted in the first issue of the Eagle on 14 April 1950, couldn’t be more timely.

With the blessing of the Dan Dare Corporation, which owns the rights to the comic strip – originally written and drawn by the Manchester-born illustrator Frank Hampson – the comic writer Alex de Campi and artist Marc Laming have reinvented the beloved characters for the 21st century in a graphic novel to be published by B7 Comics.

The impetus came from de Campi, who said: “I moved house a couple of years ago and was unpacking boxes of books when I pulled out some of my old Dan Dare compendia, so I sat down on the floor and re-read old Frank Hampson strips for an entire afternoon.

“Over the following weeks I kind of daydreamed what it would be like to have a modern Dan Dare. That resulted in me emailing the Dan Dare Corporation asking if I could pitch a new Dan Dare graphic novel series. They said yes.”

She brought in Laming, who knew Andrew Mark Sewell of B7 Comics, which has form with British icons – in 2023 the company published a graphic novel biography of the comedian Tony Hancock – and the project had liftoff.

There have been several iterations of Dan Dare since the Eagle ceased publication in 1967, with the character brought back for the launch of the long-running sci-fi weekly 2000AD in 1977, and for the relaunch of the Eagle comic in 1982. The writer Grant Morrison and artist Rian Hughes envisaged an aged, bitter Dare in a bleak revisionist strip in the magazine Revolver in 1990.

But the new graphic novel, Dan Dare: First Contact, goes back to basics. The cast of characters includes the scientist Prof Jocelyn Peabody and Dan’s faithful sidekick Digby, as well as their arch-enemy, the dome-headed, green-skinned Venusian dictator the Mekon.

De Campi and Laming are rebuilding the Dare legend from the ground up, with no prior knowledge required. De Campi said: “Everyone loves space adventure stories, but it feels like all we get these days in the west are the same two legacy IPs – Star Wars and Star Trek – flogged at us over and over. But after a while, those universes become so huge and complicated it becomes an impediment to new audiences.”

There will be some changes for a modern audience in the 100-page graphic novel, which will be released in November after a successful crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter.

In the original comics, Digby was Dare’s middle-aged “batman”, a servant assigned to military officers, and serving as bumbling comic relief. In the new version he is a fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants young working-class engineer and inventor – but, fans will be relieved to hear, still from Wigan.

And Prof Peabody is now of Indian descent. De Campi said: “Any space exploration story is by nature a story about colonisation, and it makes it more interesting to have someone who has the experience of being colonised in her cultural heritage.”

Perhaps the biggest change, though, is the future world that Dare and co inhabit. Hampson’s original vision, conceived after the horrors of the second world war, was almost utopian. In Dan Dare: First Contact, climate change has ravaged Earth, but Britain is a progressive vanguard in the world – and the galaxy beyond.

“The USA is now the United Corporations of America, and space flight has been privatised,” said de Campi. “Except in the UK, which, after teetering on the brink of abandoning its public services in the 2020s, pulled back and recommitted to things like universal public health care, education, infrastructure, transportation – and space flight.”

Sewell, of B7 Comics, said: “Alex and Marc’s exciting new take is intended to introduce a new generation of readers to Dan Dare whilst staying true to the characters, world and sense of hope and wonder of the original 1950s strip.

“It’s important to acknowledge the heritage and essential DNA of the original strips, whilst moving the stories and characters forward and making them relevant and relatable to a modern audience. Always remembering never to throw the Mekon out with the bath water!”

The Bear and the Seed by Poonam Mistry, Templar, £12.99
When Bear’s glorious forest disappears, he finds hope in a tiny seed – but he needs help from other animals to tend it in this inspiring picture book, filled with spellbinding geometric art.

Little Passenger by Deirdre Sullivan and Jessica Love, Walker, £12.99
This poetic, beautiful picture book features a mother talking to her growing baby throughout pregnancy (“You are a full stop, a pea, a single grape”). Love’s lustrous ink and watercolour illustrations marry the delicate tendrils of developing plants with the intricate stitches of a sampler.

Put Your Records On by Corinne Bailey Rae and Gillian Eilidh O’Mara, Fox&Ink, £8.99
From a Grammy-winning musician, this gorgeous picture book about intergenerational bonds, shared emotions and the power of music boasts light-filled, joyous illustrations.

Alan, King of the Universe by Tom McLaughlin, Hodder, £12.99
These five splendidly silly, surreal graphic novel adventures, starring Alan, an orange cat with opposable thumbs and dreams of world domination, and his canine sidekick Fido, should appeal to Dog Man fans of 6+.

Megalomaniacs by Jamie Smart, David Fickling, £9.99
From the creator of Bunny vs Monkey come the Megalomaniacs – alien invaders hampered in their attempts to conquer Bobbletown by their minute size and unceasing infighting. An irresistible 7+ comics romp, crammed with bum jokes, eyewatering colour and an array of tiny villains, from a Jekyll and Hyde carrot to a cyborg kitten bounty hunter.

Poetry Pizza by Simon Mole, illustrated by Tom McLaughlin, Otter-Barry, £8.99
From baths full of lemonade to invented acronyms, a spell for infinite football skills to Yuri Gagarin’s last wee before blasting off into space, this lively, funny, lyrical poetry collection features subjects to entice a variety of 7+ readers.

The Adventures of Portly the Otter by MG Leonard, illustrated by Polly Dunbar, Farshore, £14.99
Elegantly balancing delight and peril, these stories of a lovable otter pup feature cameos from Toad, Ratty, Badger and Mole – and some unsettling appearances from the Weasels. Dunbar’s adorable illustrations complement this perfect introduction to Wind in the Willows for 8+ (or for younger bedtime listeners).

Escape from the Child Snatchers by Sufiya Ahmed, Andersen, £7.99
When Humza and his best friend, Ranj, leave India on a dangerous journey to find Humza’s big brother Dani in England, they fall almost immediately into the clutches of the child-snatching Basil Brookes. Can they escape him, find Dani – and free Brookes’s other victims too? A fast-paced, atmospheric 9+ historical adventure.

Feather Vane by Beth O’Brien, HarperCollins, £7.99
Trainee sorcerers Morfran and Creirwy have been sent with their mother, Ceridwen, to banish nuisance magical creatures from the village of Greeth-Under-Edge. When Ceridwen is imprisoned for using a forbidden enchantment, though, it’s up to the twins to contend with sylphs, salamanders, gnomes and river hags – and to learn where the deepest magic really lies, in this absorbing 9+ fantasy with a flavour of Diana Wynne Jones.

The Overthinkers’ Club: Happy List by Nat Luurtsema, illustrated by Cécile Dormeau, Usborne, £7.99
Champion worrier Birdie begins summer term with a LOT to overthink – her BFF making other friends, an imminent house move, the fact that she owns (and needs) no bras … Will starting a Happy List help stop her stressing? This hilarious new illustrated diary series will be catnip for 9+ Lottie Brooks fans.

Anya and the Light above the Ocean by Amelia Giudici, Andersen, £7.99
When her scientist mother doesn’t come home one stormy night, Anya sets out in a small boat to find her, but blacks out after she encounters a mysterious square of light at sea. When she wakes, her mother is still missing, and Anya is suddenly sent away to strangers, where she must use all her courage and tenacity to figure out the unthinkable happenings around her … A gripping, original and thought-provoking 10+ sci-fi thriller.

The Danger of Small Things by Caryl Lewis, S&S, £16.99
After the bees die out, causing worldwide famine, a new order emerges – a society without art or creativity, in which girls are sent away to work as pollinators before being married off at 16. With the help of some forbidden paints and pollination brushes, can 14-year-old Jess incite a rebellion? A compelling YA dystopia, marrying an urgent environmental message with a stirring feminist call to arms.

Her Hidden Fire by Clíodhna O’Sullivan, Penguin, £9.99
In segregated Domhain, power is concentrated in the elite Channellers, a power drawn from the life-force of the lower-status people called “Fodder”. Éadha, a servant, loves Ionáin, the heir of a ruling family who will lose their status if Ionáin does not possess the Channeller gift. But when Éadha discovers that she does – and Ionáin does not – she makes an audacious decision to accompany him to the Channeller training academy, shielding him by a trick. Riveting, romantic and thought-provoking, this chunky YA fantasy interrogates patriarchy, power-hoarding and the myths by which injustice sustains itself.

Bad Queer by Gayathiri Kamalakanthan, illustrated by Chi Nwosu, Faber, £9.99
Supported and loved by their family, Surya knows they’re non-binary, but telling Blessing – the handsome, fascinating boy they’re crushing on at drama club – is harder to face. A poignant, thoughtful YA verse novel about navigating identity and the joys and pains of first love, ideal for Dean Atta fans.

These Shattered Spires by Cassidy Ellis Salter, Bloomsbury, £16.99
In a dying, decaying world, Fourspires Castle houses arcanists of four rival disciplines – bone, blood, botany and stone – whose rites maintain the precarious status quo. When the king is assassinated, the arcanists and their human familiars must fight for survival in the ritual of the Slaughter; but bone witch Taro, botanical familiar Nixie, cursed blood familiar Elliot, and Alix, banished from the Stone Arcania, become allies despite their spiteful, mistrustful history, aiming not just to survive but to lift the curse that binds their world in its rotting chains. Ambitious, gruesome and appallingly fascinating, this queer gothic fantasy kicks off a trilogy that’s sure to attract legions of strong-stomached YA readers.

Two experimental novels have jointly won the Queen Mary small press fiction prize, formerly known as the Republic of Consciousness prize.

Figures Crossing the Field Towards the Group by Rebecca Gransden, published by Tangerine Press, and Ghost Driver by Nell Osborne, published by Moist Books, were announced as this year’s winners during a ceremony held at Queen Mary University, London, on Wednesday evening.

“Sometimes it’s clear the judges can’t choose between two books, and literary prizes aren’t races,” said prize founder Neil Griffiths. “When two cross the line together, we don’t use technology to measure in hundredths of a second – they both win.”

Gransden’s novella is about a character’s travels in a post-apocalyptic land. The reader goes “on a seismic journey with a young woman through a society demolished, where bodies rot, and geology has erupted,” said judge and writer Susanna Crossman, describing the book as a “mesmerising dystopian novel”.

Osborne’s novel, meanwhile, follows the life of a woman named Malory. “The familiar becomes unfamiliar as Malory navigates, with creeping horror, office politics, body dysmorphia, drunk nights, relationships and a giant fly,” said Crossman. The book is a “shape-shifting gem powered by an effortlessly hip voice that crackles with restless energy”, said judge and writer Stu Hennigan.

The two writers win a five-day writing retreat. All longlisted presses are awarded £500. At the shortlist stage, each title receives an additional £1,000, with 70% going to the publisher and 30% to the author. Shortlisted along with the winners were Darryl by Jackie Ess (Divided Publishing), The First Jasmines by Saima Begum (Hajar Press), and Spit by David Brennan (époque press).

This year marks 10 years of the prize. Previous winners include Counternarratives by John Keene (Fitzcarraldo Editions) and Attrib. and other stories by Eley Williams (Influx Press). Last year’s winner was There’s a Monster Behind the Door by Gaëlle Bélem, translated from French by Karen Fleetwood and Laëtitia Saint-Loubert and published by Bullaun Press.

Alongside Crossman and Hennigan on this year’s judging panel was the writer Marina Benjamin.

7 The Professor (written 1846; published 1857) by Charlotte Brontë

This was the first novel that Charlotte Brontë completed. It was rejected by publishers nine times. Written in the voice of a male narrator, William Crimsworth, it offers a downbeat story of everyday middle-class striving as the protagonist travels to Brussels to establish his career as a teacher. But the last publisher to see it thought it showed promise, despite being too short and insufficiently “striking and exciting”. Had the author anything else to offer? Luckily, Jane Eyre – which amply supplied the earlier book’s deficiencies – was already in train and was soon accepted with alacrity. Although The Professor remained unpublished in Charlotte’s lifetime, she continued to believe that it was “as good as I can write”; its subtly ironised male voice reveals her underlying literary sophistication.

6 Agnes Grey (1847) by Anne Brontë

In 1846, the three Brontë sisters had – at their own expense – published a joint poetry collection under the pseudonyms Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. It sold just two copies. Realising that fiction was more saleable, they decided that each should write a novel under the same pen names. While Charlotte toiled over The Professor, the youngest sister, Anne, was working on Agnes Grey. It also sought to portray everyday life, but the result has a more authentic ring since she drew so directly on her personal experience working as a governess in well-to-do families. The first-person heroine is initially excited at the thought of earning her own living. But she finds herself underpaid and unappreciated by the snooty parents, while her tantrum-prone charges include a vile little boy who likes pulling the legs off baby sparrows. Had it not been overshadowed by Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights when it came out in 1847, it might perhaps have caused more of a stir as a Nanny Diaries-style exposé.

5 Shirley (1849) by Charlotte Brontë

This flawed follow-up to Jane Eyre was written under trying circumstances. Charlotte’s brother Branwell and both her sisters sickened and died in quick succession during the writing of it, so it was abandoned for a while before being resumed by the bereaved author. That’s not, however, the only reason why this “condition of England” novel – which announces itself on page one as “something unromantic as Monday morning” – has failed to entrance readers as much as its predecessor Jane Eyre. Its third-person narrative does not focus on a single hero or heroine and as a result the book feels comparatively diffuse, though Charlotte herself might have defended it on the grounds that real life is diffuse. Set during the Luddite riots of 1811-12, it explores social unrest, capitalism and the “woman question”. Because of her proto-feminism, Charlotte’s ideological position has often been called progressive, yet she was in fact a political conservative.

4 The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë (1848)

In feminist terms, Anne’s second novel is the most radical and socially engaged of all the sisters’ books. The eponymous tenant, Helen Huntingdon, is hiding out at Wildfell Hall with her young son after leaving her abusive husband. At the time, unequal marriage laws meant that it was very hard for a woman to get a divorce at all and nigh impossible for her to get custody of her children. In Jane Eyre, Charlotte had made Mr Rochester a sexy Byronic rake; Anne, in reply, exposed the toxic masculinity behind that character type. Despite the novel’s strong Christian message, its unvarnished portrayal of addiction and adultery shocked Victorian readers more than any of the other Brontë books. More interested in the real than the ideal, Anne was drawing on her experience as a witness to Branwell’s chaotic behaviour.

3 Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (1847)

The first of the Brontë novels to be published, Charlotte’s melodramatic tale of the poor plain governess and the madwoman in the attic became a bestseller on first publication. Its genius, in fact, lies less in the plot than in what George Eliot’s future partner GH Lewes, who was one of its first reviewers, called its “strange power of subjective representation”. Ditching the distancing device of a male narrator for a female voice proved Charlotte’s creative breakthrough: it enabled her to inject a then unprecedented first-person intensity into the novel form. However, Jane Eyre proved controversial at the time among sexist critics. Correctly surmising that the author behind “Currer Bell” was a woman, they decried the book as “coarse” and the heroine as too assertive for a female.

2 Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (1847)

It is mind-boggling to think that Wuthering Heights was written alongside The Professor and Agnes Grey, quite literally on the same dining room table in Haworth Parsonage at which all three sisters sat together working on their first novels. Emily’s masterpiece was called “a strange book baffling all regular criticism” on publication; it remains enigmatic, completely sui-generis and totally outside the norms of Victorian fiction. Justly regarded as one of the greatest works in the western canon, it’s far from the cliched love story it later became in popular culture. Though grisly with violence, it’s oddly devoid of sex. The writing is astonishing: scarcely any adjectives and not a purple passage in sight. The Victorian poet Swinburne was right to compare it to Greek tragedy.

1 Villette by Charlotte Brontë (1853)

Less famous than Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights, Villette is Charlotte Brontë’s masterpiece and deserves to be better known. Here, she goes back to the Brussels material that she had already used at a tangent in The Professor – and which was rooted in her real-life experience of studying and teaching there in 1842-4. Reworking those memories from a first-person female perspective, she now incorporated her own secret into the story: the unrequited love she had felt for her Belgian writing tutor Constantin Heger. Yet the result is anything but naïve autobiography. Instead, it shows Charlotte push the classic realist Victorian novel in new, artistically experimental directions. The unreliable narrator, Lucy Snowe, has intimacy issues and sets a challenge for the reader. Long before Freud, Charlotte was exploring questions about repression and the unconscious in a complex, self-knowing psychological novel whose generic status hovers ambiguously between naturalism, gothic and autofiction. The extent to which Villette mined and refracted her own inner life was only discovered posthumously by her biographers.

António Lobo Antunes, the Portuguese novelist who died this week in Lisbon at 83, had little patience for discussing his craft. The mechanics of writing were, he liked to say, “such a bore!”. Yet few writers of his generation showed greater stylistic daring – when José Saramago was awarded the 1998 Nobel prize in Literature, many in Portugal felt the honour had gone to the wrong writer.

Over the course of more than 30 novels, Lobo Antunes honed an exacting modernist style all his own, using it to explore Portugal’s relationship with its fascist past, and to confront the tragic futility of its final colonial campaigns in Africa. Often dismissed as a difficult writer, Lobo Antunes crafted prose that was stubbornly flirtatious, at once inviting and resisting the reader. His sentences, lush with intricate metaphors and similes, bristly with ideas and provocations, brazenly flout the rules of grammar, syntax and punctuation, determined to preserve their idiosyncrasy. Texturally, his stories are a feat, combining discordant elements to exhilarating effects: nihilism paired with political gusto; farce shot through with horror; realism grading into the weird and the surreal.

Born in 1942 to a bourgeois family on the outskirts of Lisbon, in Benfica, Lobo Antunes was the oldest of six brothers. He wrote diligently from a young age but doubts set in after he began to be published in local magazines in his mid teens. “I began to nebulously understand that there was a difference between writing well and writing badly.” Later on, he’d cotton on to the fact “that there existed an even greater difference between writing well and creating a work of art”.

For Lobo Antunes, a true work of art possesses intensity. The novelist he saw himself as didn’t so much write as “engrave” words so “they could be read, like braille, without the help of one’s eyes. So that one could run one’s finger over the lines and feel the fire and the blood.”

Lobo Antunes is best known in the English-speaking world for his second novel, South of Nowhere (1979), the first of his works to appear in English, translated by Elizabeth Lowe in 1983; it was later retranslated by Margaret Jull Costa as The Land at the End of the World (2011). A tale reminiscent of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness but with a sturdier anti-colonial core, it centres on Lobo Antunes’ experience of being a military medic in Angola at the height of the war of independence.

Distilling his blood-soaked memories into a veteran’s intoxicated monologue, it is addressed ostensibly to a silent woman in a Lisbon bar, but really directed at a Portugal that has all but forgotten its crimes. The narrator passionately rails against this wilful amnesia, while also tracing the slow unravelling of his young marriage, his yearning for his family and the daughter born during his absence, and denouncing the “crazy ghostly” war fought against MPLA fighters, which exacted a terrible toll in lives on both sides.

Other novels that consolidated his position in contemporary Portuguese literature include The Return of the Caravels (1988, translated by Gregory Rabassa in 2003), Fado Alexandrino (1983, translated by Rabassa in 1990), The Inquisitors’ Manual (1996, translated by Richard Zenith in 2004) and The Splendour of Portugal (1997, translated by Rhett McNeil in 2011).

One of my favourites is Act of the Damned (1985, translated by Zenith in 1993). Set in the aftermath of the 1974 Carnation Revolution that saw the end of Salazar’s Estado Novo regime, the book inhabits the minds of a landed aristocratic family as they congregate at the deathbed of its patriarch in the medieval walled town of Monsaraz, keen on their inheritance. The old man’s affairs are managed by his monstrous son-in-law, who will go to extreme lengths to secure for himself what remains of a fortune largely lost to debt. Meanwhile, communists are baying for blood, and the family must flee. The novel features, in short order: incest, rape, canine slaughter and a character with Down’s syndrome who suffers some wrenching cruelties. The word I reached for on finishing the book was “diluvial”, as though I had been swept up in a torrent, engulfed by a sudden, unforgiving flood. It is a useful word to keep at hand when stepping into Lobo Antunes’s oeuvre: I offer it as a warning but, of course, mean it chiefly as praise. Lobo Antunes was a writer of uncommon courage and dazzling, showstopping finesse.

The Wonder by Tom Percival, Simon & Schuster, £12.99
Daniel’s wet grey day seems like it will never get better – until he hears music and everything changes. A subtly beautiful picture book about finding small moments of joy and wonder.

The Big Green by Ken Wilson-Max, Otter-Barry, £12.99
Heading into the desert to plant seedlings with their family and neighbours, Maryam and Issa help to build the Great Green Wall of Africa in this rhythmic, colourful picture book, a rich celebration of community environmental action.

A Believer’s Guide to Unicorns by Jenni Desmond, Hodder, £7.99
This whimsical picture-book guide to unicorns – who live in the clouds, eat rainbow puffs and recharge their magic during thunderstorms – will enthral any imaginative child who loves seeing pictures in the changing sky.

Where’s Dragon in His Castle? by David Macphail, illustrated by Mariana Ruiz Johnson, Magic Cat, £12.99
A delightful search-and-find 5+ picture book, written by a genuine castle steward, and packed with enticing historical detail about castle-building and medieval medicine.

Kid Potato by Neil Coslett, Hodder, £8.99
Ideal for 5+ Dav Pilkey fans, these five highly illustrated stories of a regular kid – who just happens to be a potato – and his cheese-based experiments, confrontations with his grandmother’s toilet and epic bowling battles are both accessible and gross-out hilarious.

Tiny Hercules by Jon Lock and Nich Angell, Macmillan, £9.99
When Tiny Hercules ruins one of Tiny Zeus’s parties, he’s banished to Earth, where he must complete 12 legendary tasks to return to Tiny Olympus. Crash-landing in the town of Chutney-on-Toast, the jam jar-size hero teams up with reluctant, nerdy Jeff and instantly starts trying to defeat a lion (AKA cat) in this wildly comic 7+ graphic novel.

Hari Kumar, Ultimate Superstar by Rashmi Sirdeshpande, illustrated by Mamta Singh, HarperCollins, £7.99
Ten-year-old Hari is determined to achieve stardom at all costs – especially when a school film-making competition offers him his big break. But as his best friends pursue their own ideas and the new kid starts to turn into a villain rather than a sidekick, will Hari’s dream be over before it’s begun? A funny 7+ introduction to an engaging neurodivergent hero, in a welcoming illustrated diary format.

The Last Wolf by Rob Biddulph, Macmillan, £12.99
In the town of Moonhaven, Jax, Jovi, Esau and Fourth love nothing more than creeping out at the full moon, despite the curfew enforced by the sinister Nighthawks. After a rare werewolf attack, though, the children are suspected of involvement and must go on the run. Can they reveal the truth behind the attack – and what Colonel Pike, the Nighthawks’ leader, is planning? Atmospherically illustrated in black-and-white, this fast-paced story is a satisfying, thrilling 8+ adventure.

A Girl’s Guide to Spying by Holly Webb, Rock the Boat, £7.99
When Phyl and Annie join the Girl Guides in 1915, learning knots, morse code and drill, their parents aren’t too keen on their unladylike activities. Then Phyl and another Guide get jobs as War Office messengers – but when an officer goes missing, Phyl uncovers a spy in the midst of MO5 (the precursor to MI5). As she and Annie fight to solve the mystery, will anyone believe them – and can they make a difference to the direction of the war? First in a new series that will appeal to Murder Most Unladylike fans, this is a gripping, believable 9+ historical mystery, full of courage, high stakes and quick wits.

Always Angel by Kimberly Whittam, Usborne, £7.99
Angel has racked up more detentions than any other year 8 student. Despite her track record of poor choices, though, she wants to do well, make friends, and even win the school bake-off. Her mum is unable to care for her, and everything seems overwhelming – is there any chance she can turn things round? An empathetic, moving 9+ contemporary story of challenge and determination.

Gone for Good by Sarah Crossan, Simon & Schuster, £9.99
Grieving and angry, Connie is traumatised when she’s consigned to Silver Lake Academy, a secure facility for troubled teens – then drawn deep into a disturbing conspiracy when she discovers the girl who used to sleep in her bunk is missing without trace. This compelling YA verse-novel thriller is impossible to stop reading.

They Call Her Regret by Channelle Desamours, Bloomsbury, £8.99
Known for her legendary Halloween parties, Simone is holding this year’s beside an isolated lake where Regret, a bereaved, malign spirit, is said to make deadly deals with those who find her. When her best friend’s life is endangered, Simone must decide how far she will go to save her in this unsettling, page-turning supernatural YA mystery.

The Fox Hunt by Caitlin Breeze, Electric Monkey, £16.99
At the University, an ancient pact allows the elite all-male Turnbull Club the power to rule in exchange for a sacrifice to a hidden magical world. Unsophisticated Emma is an unlikely match for Jasper, the club’s glamorous president – and when Turnbull dinners and parties give way to a fox hunt where she’s the quarry, she finds herself ripped from the mortal world and bound to the magical Night City, where she will have to find her own reserves of ferocity and cunning if she wishes to escape. A richly imagined fantasy, elegantly marrying feminist fairytale with dark academia.

The Good Deed Dogs by Emma Chichester Clark, Walker, £12.99
Three very good dogs’ attempts to help others keep backfiring with chaotic consequences – until they pull off a successful kitten rescue in this exuberantly charming picture book.

Auntie’s Bangles by Dean Atta and Alea Marley, Orchard, £12.99
Everyone misses Auntie, especially the jingle of her jewellery; but eventually Theo and Rama are ready to put on her bangles and dance to celebrate her memory. A sweet, poignant picture book about loss, joy and remembrance.

Grandad’s World by Michael Foreman, Scholastic, £12.99
Jack loves spending time with his grandad, watching wildlife in the woods and round the village pond. But when rubbish pollutes the water, it’s up to Jack and Grandad to put things right in this absorbing picture book, full of soft blues and greens and the fascination of the natural world.

Jake in the Middle by Michael Catchpool, illustrated by Shanarama, Otter-Barry, £8.99
Jake lives with his bossy older sister and shoe-stealing baby brother at No 3 Maple Street, enjoying gentle, child-friendly adventures such as a trip to the city farm with his grandpa or setting up a school museum. This engaging 5+ chapter book will delight newly independent readers.

Postman Planet by Ben Davis, Gallery Kids, £7.99
Postman Planet pretends to be the best postman in the universe, but despite his moustache he’s only nine years old. Now he and his new part-robot dog assistant have to make an urgent helium delivery to the Planet of Fluffy Unicorns – but can they dodge the Space Vikings who want to steal their cargo? A laugh-out-loud, highly illustrated interstellar caper for 6+ by an author who’s also a real-life postman.

Donut Squad 2: Make a Mess! by Neill Cameron, DFB, £9.99
As Anxiety Donut goes on a mindfulness retreat and Dadnut teaches Li’l Timmy the meaning of life, everyone’s favourite glazed pastry treats are back – but the aggressively savoury Bagel Battalion have plans to banish them from their own book in this rip-roaring 7+ graphic novel sequel, just as funny, silly, clever and addictive as volume one.

The Golden Monkey Mystery by Piu DasGupta, Nosy Crow, £7.99
Aspiring doctor Roma is amazed to discover a golden monkey near her Indian boarding school, far away from its home in Assam. Despite two English children tagging along, bandits on her tail and the malign influence of a cursed jewel called the Snakestone, Roma is determined to return the monkey to where it belongs in this full-tilt, thrilling 8+ historical adventure.

The Experiment by Rebecca Stead, Andersen, £7.99
Eleven-year-old Nathan has always known that he’s from another planet, part of a long-running Earth-based experiment that seems to be coming to an end. But as Nathan’s peers start disappearing and his own family are called back to the Mothership, he begins to question everything he’s believed to be true … An imaginative, humorous coming-of-age sci-fi story for 9+ by an award-winning author.

The Monsters at the End of the World by Rebecca Orwin, illustrated by Oriol Vidal, Puffin, £8.99
Everyone knows that the monsters infesting the sea near Sunny’s tiny town are violent and terrifying – until Sunny meets one, and finds out that what everyone knows is wrong. But Seawaren’s elders won’t listen to Sunny, even though someone in the town is keeping a monstrous secret of their own. This gripping post-apocalyptic debut for 9+ emphasises empathy and curiosity as essentials even in the toughest of times.

The Night I Borrowed Time by Iqbal Hussain, Puffin, £8.99
Zubair is a seventh son, but it’s not until his granny arrives from Pakistan and gives him a strange amulet that he discovers he has the ability to time-travel. When he attempts to fix his parents’ marriage, however, Zubair finds that meddling with the past presents a lot of pitfalls in this funny, touching, thought-provoking 10+ story, richly imagined and deeply inventive.

Ghost Boys: The Graphic Novel by Jewell Parker Rhodes, illustrated by Setor Fiadzigbey, Orion, £9.99
The story of 12-year-old Black boy Jerome, who is shot dead by a police officer while playing with a toy gun, and whose ghost meets the spirit of Emmett Till in the afterlife, has now been given a hauntingly powerful graphic novel treatment, with chapters alternating between Dead and Alive. A moving, enraging version of the original novel.

Beth Is Dead by Katie Bernet, Scholastic, £8.99
What would happen to Louisa May Alcott’s March girls if one of them was murdered? A compulsive, sometimes gory reimagining of Little Women as a modern YA thriller, told from all four sisters’ perspectives.

Arcana: The Lost Heirs by Sam Prentice-Jones, Hot Key, £14.99
Eli doesn’t know other witches exist until he meets the gorgeous James and is inducted into the Arcana, a magic society ruled over by the mysterious Majors. Eli and his newfound family are threatened by a curse rooted in the Arcana’s history – can they face the secrets of the past to break free of it? This whimsical, inclusive, queer debut YA graphic novel is inspired by the tarot deck.

Queen of Faces by Petra Lord, HarperFire, £16.99
In Caimor, the rich can pay to change their ailing, ageing bodies, but 17-year-old Ana is trapped in a dying male form that will kill her if she doesn’t trade it for a better one. Her last hope of survival is to become an assassin for Caimor’s elite school of magic – but as the terrifying dark mage Khaiovhe incites a gathering rebellion, Ana’s missions become steadily more dangerous and confusing, forcing her to re-evaluate her loyalties and beliefs. A hugely ambitious, wholly riveting 14+ fantasy debut.

The Great Christmas Tree Race by Naomi Jones, illustrated by James Jones, Ladybird, £7.99
Star always goes on top of the Christmas tree – until new decoration Sparkle kicks off a race. Who will win: Lights, Bauble, Snowflake or Reindeer? A festive picture-book caper with a child-pleasing twist.

The Boy Who Grew Dragons: A Christmas Delivery by Andy Shepherd, illustrated by Sarah Warburton, Templar, £12.99
Tomas, Lolli and the dragons in Grandad’s garden all love Christmas, but when a baby snow dragon hatches, her icy flurries make present-delivering impossible. Children and dragons team up to find a solution in this charming, funny picture-book introduction to the bestselling 5+ series.

Joy to the Whole World! by Lucy Brownridge, illustrated by Sang Miao, Wide Eyed, £14.99
With 144 hidden illustrations, this big, resplendent 5+ lift-the-flap book chronicles the Christmas traditions of 10 different countries, including Ethiopia, India, Norway and the Philippines.

This is Not a Small Voice by Traci N Todd, illustrated by Jade Orlando, Nosy Crow, £20
Featuring poems from Langston Hughes, Amanda Gorman, Maya Angelou and other superlative Black poets, this tender, passionate, uplifting anthology is devoted to celebrating Black experience and writing, from shared struggle to domestic happiness – in James Weldon Johnson’s words, “Let our rejoicing rise/ High as the listening skies,/ Let it resound loud as the rolling sea”. Orlando’s delicate, joyous illustrations complement the poems perfectly; a wonderful collection to share with children of 6+.

The Other Father Christmas by Serena Holly, illustrated by Shahab Shamshirsaz, Storymix, £14.99
Mikey’s Gramps used to be a brilliant Father Christmas at the community centre, but since Gran died, he’s lost his festive zest. When the real Santa retires and announces a competition to decide his successor, though, Mikey can’t think of anyone better qualified than Gramps … This sweet, inclusive 7+ yuletide treat has a lively Wonka-esque feel.

The Roots We Share by Susie Dent, illustrated by Harriet Hobday, Puffin, £16.99
Focused on togetherness and connection, this gorgeous illustrated book of words and phrases ranges from the abstruse to the well-known, from “sobremesa” and “antipelargy” to “friend”, “serenity” and “cherish”. Sure to delight word-lovers of 7+.

Snow by Meera Trehan, Walker, £14.99
Every day Princess Karina digs through enchanted snow, searching for something that might undo the terrible wish that has stranded her alone in the kingdom of Mistmir. When a girl called Ela breaks through from the real world, can she and Karina face Mistmir’s dangers and join forces to put things right? An absorbing, intriguing wintry modern fairytale for 8+.

Robin by Sarah Ann Juckes, illustrated by Linde Faas, Simon & Schuster, £12.99
Eddie’s sister Scarlet has been ill for a long time and sometimes he feels as if he’s invisible. In the icy forest near his uncle’s house, a monster is growing, fuelled by Eddie’s suppressed anger. But when a robin guides him to a strange, wild girl called Mari, he gradually remembers how to be loud and take up space, making peace with his monster in this poignant, evocative 9+ story.

Tomorrow’s Ghost by Tanya Landman, Walker, £7.99
In the heatwave summer of 1976, 12-year-old Anna is packed off to stay with Aunt Em and her boisterous dog, only to find connection with another orphan girl through her dreams. As the visions intensify, Anna realises she is being called through time – will she be able to save Etty’s life? This 9+ timeslip novel boasts vivid detail and assured, gripping storytelling.

The Lone Husky by Hannah Gold, illustrated by Levi Pinfold, HarperCollins, £14.99
Returning to the Arctic landscape of her bestselling The Lost Bear, Gold’s thrilling new story follows her dauntless heroine April on a long-distance race across the tundra, kitted out with only basic supplies, a brave team of huskies and Blaze, a rescued dog with a traumatic past who may be April’s best hope. An instantly compelling delight for 9+ readers who love animal adventures.

Phoenix Brothers by Sita Brahmachari, Oxford, £8.99
Amir has weathered extraordinary suffering to survive his journey from Iraq to Britain; now he and Mo, another unaccompanied child refugee, are trying to rebuild their lives. But when Amir enters a prestigious public speaking competition, not everyone wants to hear the story he has to tell. A spare, moving story for 11+, of courage, resilience and the bonds forged by adversity.

Moth Dark by Kika Hatzopoulou, Penguin, £9.99
Six years ago, Darkworld creatures started invading ordinary reality, and Sascia became fascinated, obsessively studying Dark moths and other phenomena. Now the unthinkable has happened and she’s pulled a person out of the Dark: the princely Nugae, who wants Sascia dead … This complex, imaginative, romantic YA fantasy is filled with interwoven timelines and star-crossed lovers, ideal for Laini Taylor fans.

Frankenstein (MinaLima Edition) by Mary Shelley, illustrated by MinaLima, HarperCollins, £35
This sumptuous, thoughtfully designed gift edition of Shelley’s classic novel features paper engineering elements such as intricate maps and opening lockets, as well as haunting illustrations in shades of crepuscular blue and smouldering orange.

All the Way Around the Sun by Xixi Tian, Penguin, £9.99
Stella doesn’t want to tour potential colleges with golden boy Alan Zhao, her former best friend, who now ignores her at school. But when they set out on their enforced road trip, Stella finds herself beginning to make sense of her family’s hidden grief – and discovers she has more in common with Alan than she thought. A touching, expressive, gentle YA romance about heritage, identity and coming to terms with the past.